From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Mon Jun 03 2002 - 02:39:21 MDT
From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com>
> Olga contributes a set piece of venomous liberal propaganda.
> (Propaganda that I agree with I call by a nicer name.) In
> the recently established tradition, may one inquire what this
> has to do with Extropian issues?
I'm still trying to get a sense of what Extropian issues are all about. One
sense I get is that it is forward-looking and future-oriented. Ayn, IMO, is
antediluvian.
> Was there anything that you wanted to do beyond sticking it
> to conservatives or libertarians who might be reading the
> list?
There's no such thing as bad publicity. The answer to a bad book is a
better book. People can judge for themselves whether Ayn Rand's writings
are good. Speaking for myself, I like to read criticism from a variety of
points of view.
> Is there an argument against Ayn Rand's beliefs that you
> would like to make, besides just saying how it makes you
> "break out"?
She'd out to lunch.
> Why do you think that you might be kicked off the forum for
> criticizing some book on the recommended list? Are you
> serious? How can you imply such a thing? Why, I wasn't
> even kicked off the list for contributing to the <I-word>
> thread; and I don't think that it even crossed anyone's mind!
I wasn't being totally serious. I was just writing off the cuff, like when
I sometimes say "Oh My God" (even though I'm not a theist), or "Oy, he's
going to kill me ..."
> Damien also echoes the following piece of erudite critical
> thinking:
>
> "Oh dear oh dear oh dear".
And, so, concomitantly, I'll echo his: Yep.
> Come now, even liberals [admittedly cheap and shameless
> slam] can do better than that!
Yes, we can.
> As it happens, I myself don't happen to be a huge admirer of
> Ayn Rand, but so what? WHAT EXACTLY DID SHE SAY that bugs
> you? We should *talk* about it, if you want, not just denounce
> the Extropians movement through some kind of guilt by association.
> And we should try to talk about it in very reasoned, cautious,
> judicial tones, if you can do that.
I'm not denoucing the Extropian movement. I'm fascinated by it, in some
respects. I feel like I'm at a party, where groups of interesting
conversations are going on. I flit from one group to another, taking in a
word here and an idea there. Then I arrive at the punchbowl. And there's a
turd floating in it...
Olga
> (who fears he may have lost his temper but doesn't care)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On
Behalf Of Olga
> Bourlin
> Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2002 8:45 PM
> To: extropians@extropy.com
> Subject: Longevity and Ayn Anti-Venom
>
>
> I've admitted it to the list before - I have this problem with Ayn Rand.
I break out
> (tears? laughter? hives?) when I see her name. I just poked my head into
the new
> Extropians List Guidelines, and saw Ayn's name there again, keeping
company with all the
> other erudite recommended books. Oh dear oh dear oh dear - I may be
kicked off the list
> for good, but I needed some anti-venom fast, and what follows is pretty
lame, but it
> helped me exorcise running into Ayn. You who may be acquainted with
Russian toasts know
> that one of the most popular ones simply goes: "Long Life!" If you read
the following,
> this rambling tirade may make some sense to you:
>
> PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ON MEDICARE POLICY, AS DELIVERED TO RESIDENTS OF THE
HEMLOCK FARMS
> DISCOUNT ELDERCARE FACILITY
> Statement by the President
>
> THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. It's great to be back in Florida. And it's a
real pleasure
> to be here at the Hemlock Farms Eldercare Facility, looking out over so
many dazed and
> toothless faces. Now I know it's hard to hear me over the creaking of
wheelchairs and
> raspy din of the second-hand respirators which keep you clinging to your
spent and empty
> lives, but I wanted to take a few minutes to talk at all of you about my
plans for
> Medicare.
> As you know, Medicare is one of the few remaining pieces of pork barrel
legislation passed
> by the closet Socialist Lyndon Baines Johnson as part of his so-called
"Great Society"
> initiatives of the mid-1960's. Now sure, Johnson may have been from Texas
(and had the
> longhorn in his pants to prove it), but at the end of the day, he was just
another
> bleeding heart liberal - never mind that he had the patriotic balls to
send thousands of
> American boys off to Vietnam to die gruesomely in a war he knew was
hopelessly unwinnable.
> Today, I'm here in front of all these television cameras to impart the
impression that my
> administration is not doing everything in its power to completely
eradicate Johnson's
> time-tested Medicare program and replace it with a system that will line
the pockets of my
> pals in the insurance industry and put your Truman-voting asses six feet
under in crushing
> medical bills.
> Now I understand how popular Medicare is with poor seniors like
yourselves. It's like
> another chunk of Social Security, except earmarked for doctors with lousy
Bahamanian
> medical degrees who suckle at the Federal cash teat by poking and prodding
at those
> walking corpses you call bodies. Makes you wonder why old LBJ didn't just
combine Medicare
> and Social Security into one program called "Fat Handouts for Lazy Old
People Who Were Too
> Stupid to Invest Enough Money From Their Lucrative White Collar Jobs to
Retire Comfortably
> Without Begging for Help Like Some Brandy-Soaked Hobo." But that's another
issue.
> For far too long, my enemies in the Democratic party have used the issue
of Medicare as a
> vehicle to disseminate the truism that Republicans really couldn't care
less whether you
> people live or die, on account of you're all too poor to contribute to our
campaigns - and
> even if you did, you're far too decrepit and sickly to get to the polls on
election day.
> Well just let me say one thing: it is important to me that people not
believe this. I
> mean, we know there's not going to be any butterfly ballots down here in
2004, and that's
> why we need as many of you on our side as we can get. And so I want each
of you to take it
> to heart when I say I honestly think of you as so much more than just
digestive systems on
> legs, and that I would never exploit your collective snowballing senility
by assuring you
> that I will not do all of those wildly destructive things to your
healthcare plan which
> I'm actually secretly planning to do.
> (Scattered feeble applause.)
> Thank you all for listening. Please give my best to the big guy upstairs.
You'll all be
> seeing him sooner than you think.
> ###
>
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